On April 13th, on what would have been his fifty-ninth birthday, we will remember Mario Bignone. The gathering will take place at 10:30 AM at the Addiopizzo headquarters, a property seized from the mafia, inaugurated in 2010 and named by the association after the State Police officer.
In the presence of his wife Giovanna Geraci, colleagues, and friends, Mario will be remembered by representatives of Addiopizzo, Maurizio Calvino, Palermo’s Chief of Police, and Maurizio de Lucia, Chief Prosecutor of the Sicilian capital—those who shared part of their lives and professional paths with him.
We owe a great deal to Mario Bignone for the recognition and legitimacy he always granted to Addiopizzo.
Mario Bignone was not only an outstanding police officer who served the State and made a significant contribution to the fight against Cosa Nostra.
Back in 2006, while serving in the Organized Crime Division in Palermo, Mario was the first police official to open his office to us and begin a collaboration that, for the first time, helped spark a wave of business owners and shopkeepers reporting extortion rackets.
A pioneer for his vision and ability to include and engage citizens and the broader social fabric, Mario paid close attention to relationships beyond institutional roles—especially in the field of preventing and combating extortion rackets and Cosa Nostra, with all its interests and cultural codes. For all of this, we will gather to remember Mario, offering him this heartfelt moment of gratitude—informal, and shared with those who walked part of life and work alongside him.
